Ed Miliband: name and shame companies not paying Living Wage

The Labour leader calls for businesses to make public whether or not they'll
be paying the £7.20 an hour Living Wage.

4:58PM GMT 05 Nov 2012

Ed and David Miliband have put their political rivalry aside to work on plans for millions of workers to be paid a “living wage” of at least £7.20 an hour, which would rise to over £8.30 in London.

The Labour leader said the sum represented the minimum hourly rate needed to provide an acceptable standard of living.

On a visit to Islington Town Hall, Ed Miliband said: “You go out, slog your guts out...you deserve a decent wage if the company can afford it."

As part of Labour’s policy review, the party is considering ways to make the rate, which is more than £1 higher than the legal adult minimum wage, the new norm.

Listed companies who do not pay the living wage could be “named and shamed” through new corporate governance proposals, and Whitehall contracts could be limited to firms that pay their workers at the new hourly rate.